5 Useful Google Home Automations That Make Your Smart Home Even Smarter

Smart speakers, LED lights, and video doorbells are all must-have devices to build a smart home. They can often be individually controlled using your phone via apps from the manufacturers themselves, but many smart home gadgets have integrations with platforms such as Google Home. This way, you can add compatible devices to the Google Home app and enjoy centralized control without having to shuffle around a dozen proprietary apps. Some popular devices compatible with Google Home include the Nest Doorbell and the Philips Hue series of smart light bulbs. An added advantage of a product being well-integrated with Google Home is the fact that you can use voice commands to carry out actions. With a smart speaker like the Nest Mini acting as a hub, you won't even have to bother with manually tapping around in the Google Home app on your phone.

Decking out your house with smart devices is only half the story, though. Combining gadgets and automations is what really makes the most of what Google Home has to offer. If you launch the app on your phone, you will notice an "Automations" tab at the bottom. This is where you can create custom routines for the various smart home devices you own. These automations can be as simple or as intricate as you please. Though creating automations is fairly straightforward, the various actions at your disposal can make the process seem overwhelming. To those looking for some ideas, here are five Google Home automations worth checking out.

Not everyone is a morning person — heck, there are some days when even getting out of our beds can feel like a chore. If you are not opposed to the idea of being greeted by the tech in your home first thing in the morning, then setting a wake-up routine using Google Home is a great way to get started. As for what triggers the automation, you can pick a specific time, or leave it to when the sun rises. If you dislike surprises, you can simply vault the whole automation behind a simple "good morning" voice command. 

A wake-up routine can be as gentle or as effective as you want it to be. You can have the smart lights in your bedroom turn on to full brightness, or have your smart blinds automatically roll up if you prefer natural light. Other connected devices like thermostats, smart plugs, or even your coffee machine can be part of the routine and get things nice and ready by the time you get out of bed. Your smart speaker or phone could read aloud the news, check for upcoming events in your calendar, or simply play some upbeat music to set the mood.

Conversely, a night-time routine helps you wind down your day, dim the lights in your room, set a comfortable temperature, and silence notifications while you prepare to sleep. Add some serene white noise while you're at it, too.

If the smart of your home happens to extend outside it — to your porch or patio, maybe in the form of outdoor lighting and a video doorbell — then consider setting up a warm welcome surprise for your visitors. The starter for this automation can be when your doorbell rings or detects motion. The automation can turn on the outdoor lights and make your guests feel at home before they even step in.

Some of the popular doorbell cameras you can buy come with motion sensors — these are often used to send notifications to your phone, which can be mighty useful in case of intrusions. However, motion detection can also be used as a starter when setting up a Google Home automation. This warm welcome routine doesn't have to be beneficial solely for your guests — you can leverage this for your own convenience as well. 

The automation can light up your porch if it detects you approaching your home, minimizing the risk of you tripping up the stairs — especially when it's dark outside. Since Google Home lets you control all of your smart devices, you can have this automation light up your foyer and play some welcoming tunes on a speaker nearby.

One of the less disastrous effects of the pandemic was the realization that a lot of work can be accomplished without having to travel to offices every day. With more and more companies adopting hybrid work environments, working from home has become quite common. This practice has its advantages — unlimited coffee and bathroom breaks, music blasting through your speakers, and a total commute time of five seconds from your bed to your desk.

An ergonomic keyboard, a comfortable footrest, and an expansive monitor are gadgets that can improve your work productivity, but you can also utilize the existing smart home devices you own to create a motivating work environment. A dedicated work mode automation can be set up that turns on the lights in your room if they are off. Warm lighting can make a space look cozy — and while a home is the perfect place to relax, you might want to simulate an office-like environment by switching the temperature of your smart lights to a cooler white. 

Your work mode automation can also send your phone into a do not disturb mode, which silences distracting notifications and calls. If you have a smart speaker on your desk, you can also ask the Google Home app to play a playlist of deep focus music. All of this can either be activated by a voice command or, ideally, based on a fixed schedule.

Optimizing your TV for watching movies involves playing around with a few options, like motion smoothing, Dolby Vision, and picture modes. Though there's nothing more effective than fine-tuning the picture and sound for optimal viewing, the environment in which your TV sits matters a great deal as well. As awesome as natural lighting is, the last thing you want while watching a highly anticipated film is the sun blasting a glare on your TV's screen.

This is why setting up a movie mode automation on Google Home can be a great idea. When triggered by a vocal command, you can have the lights in your living room dim to ten percent brightness, have an additional backlight light up, if available, and have your blinds roll down to block the sunlight. Compatible televisions can also be set up in a way that allows you to control them via the Google Home app. This way, a single voice command will not only set the perfect ambience for watching movies, but will also turn your TV on. 

From there, you can either use a remote or voice commands to start a movie or TV show on your desired streaming platform. Certified movie buffs who own popcorn makers can take the experience one step ahead by plugging it into the wall through a smart plug and automating that as well.

The great thing about a decently decked-out smart home is that you can reap its benefits even from afar. For instance, you can create a Google Home automation for when you decide to go on a vacation. This routine can periodically turn on the lights to ward off intruders, automatically lock the door, set your surveillance smart tech to maximum alertness — maybe even configure your thermostat to ensure your house doesn't end up too cold or too hot. Going on a vacation isn't an everyday activity, so you can use a voice command as a starter for this automation.

Google Home already has home and away routines that work with presence sensing. You can find this in the app by navigating to Favorites, selecting your home, and then setting up either a Home or Away routine. These will then be triggered automatically whenever a compatible Nest smart device senses your presence. This is extremely handy since it doesn't require any user input.

With presence sensing, you can have all of your lights turn on to a pleasant hue, your thermostat dial up or down to hit a comfortable temperature, and your smart speaker play some relaxing tunes — easing you into your night-time automation. Conversely, leaving your house can ensure the thermostat drops to an eco mode, all the lights are switched off, and any cameras start streaming a live feed for you to check at any time.